It Didn't Used to Be Complicated
by steepedinshadows419
Summary: Post 1x15 - Emily finds herself stewing in her office hours after her meeting, unable to decide how to feel about Aaron Shore. Aaron/Emily. Oneshot.


**A/N:** My first Designated Survivor fic (and so, also my first Aaron/Emily fic). I hope you enjoy. This takes place following 1x15. Because I needed them to have a follow-up interaction. Take down the walls! Be together! Lol.

 ***** Many thanks to my awesome beta, **sendtherain** , who isn't even caught up with this show but looked it over anyway. And also to my bestie, **hpchick1516** , who looked it over to make sure everything worked in context and was in character. Love you both.

*I own nothing. No copyright infringement intended.

...

 _Hookstraten._

The conversation with Aaron still bothered her two hours after her meeting with State had ended. There she sat, alone in her Chief of Staff office, an untouched half-filled glass of wine sitting on her desk, and nothing on her mind but Aaron Shore.

 _How could he work for Kimble Hookstraten?_

The woman had proven time and again that she was only genuinely helpful when she and Tom's goals happened to align. That was not overly frequently. And she'd made no secret of maybe running for president herself when Tom's term was up.

Not that Tom had shown any desire to try to run for another four years following his unexpected insertion into the presidency role. And certainly there were worse people Aaron could have chosen to work for. At least she'd be able to see him on a semi-frequent basis again.

And _that_ thought in particular is what kept her digging her nails into her palms and not quite downing her half-glass of wine.

It had been a good month at least – _right?_ – since the President had asked her to look into any suspicious behavior Aaron might have had before the bombing of the Capitol. The distance she'd had to create between her and Aaron had been torturous, not to mention the gut-wrenching possibility that he actually was a traitor.

It would've been easy for her to hate him if this news had been brought up back when they'd both been elected part of the President's cabinet. She hadn't been very fond of Aaron then, and he hadn't been very fond of her either. There would be no love lost between them if he'd been sent packing or maybe worse – if he had faced imprisonment or death. He would deserve it, and she would tell herself she'd known there was something off about him from the start. She would've been shocked along with everyone else, and horrified given how close he'd come to advising the President. But she'd have gotten the Chief of Staff position a lot sooner. Despite Aaron's hypothetical threat to national security, all would be as it should be. The terrorist would be locked away and any future catastrophe averted, at least from that sector.

But it wouldn't be that simple now, months later, after they'd established a compatible comradery with each other and were on the brink of something more.

The flirtation. That kiss. That almost date that never was.

She'd be lying if she said she didn't dream of those things on the daily, that those memories made the distance between them all the harder to maintain.

It felt like an eternity ago, like it had happened in another life. Every day her heart sank with the possibility he might be guilty. And every day it broke her a little more to see him try to interact with her when she could never genuinely participate. She couldn't let herself relax. She couldn't enjoy the experience.

She told herself it was because she didn't want it to accidentally slip that she was doing research on him, background checks, looking into his whereabouts the days and weeks and months leading up to the bombing.

But also it was because almost being with Aaron Shore – as more than just a co-worker or friend – gave her a light and airy feeling. She was purely and exquisitely happy. She melted when he looked at her, and she couldn't stop smiling when he spoke or when she even heard someone say his name. She looked forward to every conversation and yearned for breaks between meetings or the end of the day, so she'd have an excuse to stop by his office and see him if she didn't have enough patience to wait for him to come see her.

She wasn't in love. She knew that. Maybe borderline infatuated. _Okay_ , infatuated. But really the promise of what was to come was just _exciting_. She wanted more of that. She didn't want it to end.

She didn't want to fall in love with a traitor if it could be avoided.

That was what was really at stake here. Her _heart._

Technically speaking though, it no longer was. Aaron had been cleared. He wasn't a suspect. He wasn't guilty. There was no reason at all for her to worry about what would happen if she let herself continue to melt under his advances, should he choose to resume them.

So _why_ then had he resigned?

Aaron loved his job. He loved… _liked_ his co-workers. It could no longer be doubted that he was fiercely loyal to Tom.

Taking these facts into consideration, it made no sense for him to resign and even less sense for him to start working for Kimble Hookstraten. What had made him accept her offer of employment? Or maybe he had been the one to put it on the table. That possibility left her feeling even more unsettled.

Something had to have happened before his resignation. Something that made him feel like he had no choice but to resign. It couldn't have just been her doing a background check on him, because if it had been that alone he'd have resigned weeks ago.

She had no intel on Aaron's personal conversations with the President, and she had no way of knowing if anyone else had gotten involved in trying to clear him. There was no reason to believe they'd actually found evidence to be suspicious of him because he had been let go.

 _So why…_

She shook her head and finally succumbed to taking a sip of the red wine sitting all by its lonesome on the corner of her desk.

She'd pushed a lot aside in recent weeks when it came to all things Aaron. She didn't want her heart to break. She wanted to stay professional. And while his most recent decisions didn't leave her feeling quite as wary and unsettled as the possibility that he was a traitor, it did still stir her curiosity. It was insatiable.

She no longer had any reason to doubt he was telling the truth, that he had nothing to hide and he was doing everything for the right reasons, as far as he could tell. But she still didn't quite know how to take his _I'm looking to redefine the playing field_ and _the party lines don't seem to mean as much as they used to, you know?_

Because she _did_ know.

Things _were_ changing in that regard, though not enough to be used as a valid excuse for joining Hookstraten's team. At least, not as far as she was concerned.

Then again, maybe way deep down Aaron didn't even know why he was doing it. How could she fault him for doing something that he wasn't even 100% sure the reason behind it?

The knock on the door served as a much needed reprieve to her heavy, racing thoughts.

"Come in."

The door opened and in walked Seth, his lips halfway to a smirk but his eyes and eyebrows sporting confusion.

"Did I just see Aaron?" He stuck his thumb out toward the hall.

Emily smiled complacently and nodded once.

"You did."

"And he's…?"

"Working for Kimble Hookstraten as her Chief Strategist."

Seth's lips twitched as he tried to process the information.

"You're joking."

"Dead serious. He told me himself."

Seth blew out a puff of air and sank into the chair across from hers.

"Well then."

Emily laughed and took another sip of wine. It was amazing how the beverage called to her when the issues swimming in her mind suddenly were being discussed aloud.

Seth shifted his gaze to Emily who set down the wine bottle and another empty glass in front of him. Without a word, he took advantage of the offer.

"He remembers he's a Democrat, right?"

Emily nodded, cradled her glass in her lap.

"And that she's a Republican."

"She's not always Kirkman's biggest fan either. He didn't forget that, did he?"

Emily sighed and sank back into her seat.

"I honestly have no idea. I had to go… He had to go…" She waved her hand to the side and then let it drop along the side of her chair.

"Was it tense?" he asked.

"Polite," she murmured into her glass.

"On purpose?"

Emily closed her eyes and decided not to answer the question.

Silence lingered between them as Seth settled into his own chair and sipped his wine. He gently set the empty glass on her desk when he had finished it, then stood to his feet.

"I suppose on the bright side we'll be seeing him more often."

Emily nodded, a half-smile tugging on her lips.

Seth turned and headed for the door, pausing and bracing his hand briefly on the doorframe before passing through to leave.

"It hasn't been quite the same without him here with us every day."

"No," she agreed, though the word was so soft she wondered in hindsight if he'd heard it. "It hasn't."

Seth's knowing smile went unseen by her as he stepped out into the hall.

"Goodnight, Emily."

"Goodnight."

She sat unmoving as Seth closed the door behind him and presumably went home.

She should go home too. She'd only had one full glass of wine. She could drive. And she didn't live far away either. The best thing to do was probably to stop thinking so much about this new development and get some sleep instead. Things would probably be clearer in the morning, less muddled, less…complicated. The quiet voice in the back of her head whispered that wasn't true.

Because there was one aspect of the situation she hadn't thought about. That she had deliberately _avoided_ thinking about. It irritated her more than anything else because it actually intensified all the other excuses why Aaron's return to politics ruffled her feathers.

Because when she'd walked down the hall and seen him standing there, one thought existed in her mind.

 _Did he come to see me?_

But no, he had not.

Instead, he had come to get identification to work for the enemy – Kimble Hookstraten.

 _Not exactly the_ _ **enemy**_ _, Emily_ , she scolded herself.

But he hadn't come to see her either, and that wounded her. That kept her pretty smile in place, the scorn in her initial response potent, and her exit quick and meaningful and completely justified. She had a meeting to keep after all.

And it was unrealistic – really – to think he had nothing better to do than to come and visit her. He would know how busy she was too, so she couldn't possibly set aside time, but—

Another knock at the door, but it opened before she could respond.

"Did you come back for—"

And there he was, causing her jaw to drop and snapping it shut just a second long enough to cause a reaction out of him. An amused grin. And those dazzling, dark eyes of his taking her in. Even from across the room in the somewhat dark she could see the intensity of them. She felt a chill ripple down her back when she should have been feeling irritation from earlier or the need to be brisk and polite, and she knew she was in trouble.

"Aaron." She smoothed down her skirt and pushed her glass to the side. "I thought you were someone else."

He raised his eyebrows and came in, sat across from her as if he did this every day and no weird phase of silence and distance had happened between them.

"Oh, yeah? Who?"

"Seth," she said quickly. _Too quickly?_ "He was just in here a little while ago."

He nodded. "I just saw him in the hall."

"Oh."

She tried not to give away anything with the small sound, but his sudden laugh told her she had not succeeded.

"He as surprised as I was?" She asked, looking away, trying to find _something_ to stare at in the immediate vicinity.

"Just about. He wasn't quite as eager to leave as you were, though."

Her eyes flitted up to his.

"I had a meeting to go to," she defended, though not as harshly as she'd wanted to.

Aaron fought a grin and said nothing, just looked at her like it would be a crime to look anywhere else.

"I hope this doesn't…change anything between us, Emily."

She blinked and tilted her head to the side.

"No, of course not. Why would it?"

His teeth shown in this grin, and she blushed.

"Aside from the obvious reasons?"

"Right." She avoided his stare again. "Besides those."

Silence lingered again, him staring at her and her avoiding his gaze. The heat from her embarrassment and awkwardness burned the back of her neck until she wanted nothing more than to get out of that room and sleep and prepare to see him again tomorrow.

But he spoke just as she was about to jump out of her seat to leave.

"I like what you've done with the place," he said, his eyes traveling from one wall to the next.

Emily followed his gaze and then scrunched her nose.

"I haven't done anything."

He grinned, his eyes dazzling when she made the mistake of turning to look at him.

"Which you knew."

"Only just now," he assured her.

She fought a smile and failed, this time slowly coming out of her chair and gathering her purse.

"I should probably go. It's getting late."

"How did your meeting go?" he asked, standing with her and backing up in the direction of the door as she crossed the room.

"Good." She nodded, shutting the lights off and the door behind them. "Yours?" she asked, trying not to think about how his arm brushed against hers as they walked down the hall.

"Also good." He smiled to himself. "Feels good to be back on the inside again."

"Just on opposite sides," he pointed out.

He sighed. "Emily—"

"I'm sorry." She shook her head and waved the comment off. "I shouldn't have said that. It's just…going to take some getting used to."

He nodded but said nothing. They were silent until they reached the street, each having to part to get to their respective homes.

"I'm this way." She nudged her head in the other direction.

He smiled. "I'm that." He stuck his thumb back behind him.

Her smile was forced, and she knew it.

"I'll see you tomorrow then – or, sometime."

He hesitated as she turned to leave, but then his hand reached out before she made a full 180. She turned to look at his grasp on her elbow.

"I'm still on your side, Emily," he said, his eyes intense again and earnest, making it impossible for her to look away. "On your side, on Seth's, on Kirkman's. If there's a tough call to be made, I'll be doing it in the interest of what I think our President would do, not our Congresswoman."

Emily softened, a weight lifting off of her for the first time all evening.

"Thanks, Aaron. I'm really glad to hear you say that." She lifted her purse further up her shoulder. "I just hope you stick to it."

His lips parted, preparing a defense, but then he saw the glint in her eyes and knew she was teasing.

"Goodnight, Aaron," she said, gazing longer that she'd let herself before. For the briefest of moments her eyes dipped down to his lips.

"Goodnight, Emily," he said, mirroring her actions and taking immense pleasure in the desire he spotted in her eyes, which she didn't bother to hide.

Emily smiled to herself when he released her and started the walk home. She could feel his stare on her all the way down the block, figured he was smiling too and relished that fact.

There was no way they could rewind time and just pick up to where they left off. It was inevitable that the tension they'd known early on might return because of where they found themselves when it came to employment.

But the spark was still there. She felt the crackle in every breath of space between them.

...

 **A/N:** I hope you enjoyed. Happy reviews are love. :)


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